San Marcos City Council Approves Ethics Ordinance Amendment On 1st Of 2 Readings

Staff Reports

The San Marcos City Council will consider the approval of an ordinance on the first of two readings, which amends Article V of the city ethics code Tuesday.

The amendment will require ethics complaints to be sworn before a notary public, establish a six month time period to file a complaint regarding an alleged violation, require city employees and officials to cooperate in hearings before the ethics review commission, prohibit the use of intimidation to discourage employees from filing ethics complaints or testifying at hearings and prohibit retaliation in the form of an adverse personnel action against employees who file ethics complaints or testify.

The city council voted 6-1 to amend the ordinance and the caption with councilmember Shane Scott voting again. Among the amendments was the following:

• Six-month time period to fil a complaint regarding an alleged violation changed to twelve month
• A copy of any complaint against a city employee be forwarded to the city managed by the city attorney within 10 days

The council voted 6-1 to approve the ordinance as amended with councilmember Scott voting against it.

According to the agenda, the amendments to the code of ethics were recommended by the San Marcos Ethics Review Commission and previously reviewed by the council.